Earlier
You believe the sailor is telling the truth, Dargon. Freed, the man scurries away once he's on shore, giving a couple backward glances and heaving a deep sigh of relief that he survived.[/ooc]

At the vault
In the castle, a clerk verified Lavinia's identity and her signet and then escorts you all down a spiral staircase into a large circular chamber under the castle, though he does seem to keep an eye on Sekathral and Silvio. Over a dozen five-foot-wide halls radiate out from the central chamber, and he gestures you down one of them.

The short passageway ends at a solid-looking iron door. The portal is emblazoned with a simple rune -- an eight-pointed star. Above the door, inscribed in flowing script on a polished silver plaque, is the name Vanderboren. A single handle protrudes from the door, just below a circular depression bearing the mark of the Vanderboren signet.

Lavinia gives it a look and then glances back at you. "Well, here goes nothing, I suppose." She inserts the ring and the door flashes once with blue light, drawing a slight squeak of surprise from the noblewoman. The door slowly swings open on creaking hinges.

"Well, shall we go in?" Lavinia asks.

She gestures you foward into a domed vault with a floor of polished green marble. Two 15-foot-wide alcoves have lower ceilings and feature marble pillars carved to resemble coiling snakes. In the center of the room, five similar pillars are embedded into the walls, rising up thirty feet to a dome overheard. Looking up, the dome bears a huge representation of the same eight-pointed star that was engraved on the door to the south.

As you enter, though, an iron snake suddenly slithers out from one of the pillars at the far side of the room and moves toward you, iron fangs glistening.

I'm going to assume Kayle was left outside since we're indoors and we had no reason to assume there was going to be an danger. I'm not one of those players that feels entitled to bring his animal companion everywhere. =)

"A guardian of some sort?", Zstelian surmises as the creature springs to life. "Lavinia have you any idea how to deactivate it?"

The Varisian springs to the front of the party drawing his falchion as he does. Ready to attack if it comes up adjacent.

Earlier
Silvio spends the carrigeride in constant chatter telling outrageous (and mostly untrue) strories about his unbringing and life at sea. When he glances the truth the details are exaggerated and anything that would reflect badly on the nobleman is left out. As he tells the story about how he came to Elendar for example, he paints a vivid portrait of the captain of the maiden's kiss. "Silvio had won the crew when the captain emerged on deck. A giant of a man, arms thick like the main mast of the ship! He comes for Silvio but Silvio is to quick for the brutish captain. The duel goes back and forth, Silvio's blade turning the giant's clothes crimson red, the giants blade striking at the thin air Silvio occupied just a moment ago. The captain knows that the battle is over, Silvio is the rightful rules of the ship! But in a last act of tretchery he calls out to his water witch. A nasty old crone that summons all kinds of devils and fire that turns the nightsky into day! What could Silvio do? Concerned of the ship and the life of my fellow crewmen Silvio agrees to leave the ship that very night!"

At the vaultInitiative roll: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Round 1, initiative 9ac 17hp 12/13effects:

Silvio seems more interested in talking to the lady Vanderboren than to notice what's going on around him. When the chelaxian finally notices the iron snake he smiles his confident smile and engages the creature, sword against fang.

Lavinia shakes her head, her eyes wide and voice slightly higher with fear or excitement, or a mix of both. "I have no idea! I guess destroy it and I can replace it!"

Sekathral tumbles behind the construct, his new rapier slashesin out at it. He slashes across it, but the sword seems to barely penetrate its "hide," leaving only a scratch along the smooth metal.

The snakes turns, the metal sounding eerie on the cold marble floor, and tries to bite the elf, but he's able to fend it off, keeping its fangs from his flesh.

As Zstelian and Dargon take up guarding positions in front of the young noblewoman (and, conveniently for the cleric, Kyson), Finn and Silvio move forward at her command but are only able to score glancing blows that the creature seems to barely notice.

If you all want, I can roll group initiative for everyone. I usually don't bother, since I figure I still have to wait for everyone to post Round 1 actions anyway, though I suppose knowing when in the round you'll go can help you better decide what to do.

Sekathral shouts "I can't even make a mark on the blasted thing!" then takes a five foot step backwards, then takes his grappling hook out and attempts to ram it down the creature's throat attk 1d20 - 4 ⇒ (14) - 4 = 10 dmg 1d6 ⇒ 2

Sekathral backs away from the creature before unsuccessfully trying to throw his grappling hook down its throat.

With only one person in close proximity, the snake lunges at Silvio, but he's able to use his blade to find it off, keeping its fangs from harming him.

With the area clear, Finn leaps up and tosses a seashell at it, letting out a shout of triumph as it explodes over the metal serpent, dousing it in flame. 9 points damage, 10 total Unfortunately, Silvio is singed slightly as he is unable to dance completely out of the way in time. 2 points damage

"Careful," Lavinia shouts, wincing as she sees the Chelaxian licked by the fire.

Zstelian and Silvio take up positions opposite the snake, but can't hit the surprisingly quick construct.

Dargon however is more successful as he rushes in, striking it and seemingly knocking a few metal scales loose, though he's surprised at how hard it is. 3 hp, 13 total

Now in position, Dargon sends out a flurry of quick strikes at the snake.

"A tough one we got here," Dargon announces before attempting his first blow. A right foot stomp that badly misses the creature, instead awkwardly hitting the hard marble floor beneath them. "Stay still you lil' vermin!", Dargon angerly shouts at the snake before following up with a solid stomp from his left foot. It's going to take a bit to finish 'er beatin'. Skins as iron as she looks." Dargon announces to nobody in particular.

Silvio successfully dances around the snakes attacks but is not so lucky with collateral damage of Finn's bombs. "Be careful with Silvio's jacket", he says as the fire singes his sleeve. "It is a proud Pazzi relic!", he claims untruthfully. The row of pearly white teeth that make up the chelaxian's selfconfident smile is reflected in the blade
as he strikes a telling blow to the serpent. "You see. Do like Silvio , strike at the neck!"

Sekathral continues to struggle with his grappling hook, leaving him open for the snake, which clamps his fangs onto the elf's arm. He feels a chill as some sort of venom enters his arm through the wound, but it seems to have no effect. 3 hp damage

Kyson moves farther away from the fight and throws a ball of fire -- barely missing Sekathral -- Zstelian and Dargon press the attack, but can't seem to penetrate the creature's metallic scales. Silvio, however, scores a solid hit, nearly cleaving the thing in two and sending metal scales scattering across the vault, though it continues to lunge at the group gathered around it. 4 hp, 14 total

Finn, realizing he doesn't have room to throw another bomb, grabs his spear and attacks, hitting a glancing blow on the construct that seems to have no effect.

Dargon spirits drop a bit as he watches Silvio deliver such an excellent strike. ”This one’s mine,” he mummers under his breath as he presses forward with his flurry of stomps, trying to crush the vermin beneath his feet.

Sekathral swears horribly for several minutes, rubbing at the wound on his arm and stowing his grappling hook away. "What's the point of having a mother-swiving shiny new sword if it doesn't even scratch the first breechcloth-stinking clockwork nightmare we come across?! You" He snarls, looking straight at Kyson, then pauses. "Oh, what's the use - you can't help it. Never mind"

He stomps off, muttering under his breath, and looks around the hall for a moment.

Turning to the group, she grimaces -- "We seem to have reached a dead end. Remind me when I have children to not keep all of our secrets quite so secret." -- and begins looking around for some other egress.

"Your parents were skilled adventurers. I suspect their love of hidden and secret things wove its way through all the aspects of their lives", Zstelian says as he stows his blade and searches the area.

"That was fun," Dargon remarks before noticing the others already looking about vault, trying to figure out what to do next. "Don't what we're lookin' for?" Dargon says inquisitively to Lavinia while joining in the search.

Perception:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

***

At some point, Dargon takes out Kyson's copy of the note found with the ring. "Lass, 'tis mean somethin' to ya?"

"You need to scratch it in the right place. Like Silvio does", Silvio tells Sekathral. "But do not worry. The world is full of target's and in the right line of work you can get plenty of practice. Stick with Silvio, he will show you."

"What does that shopping list of beasts have to do with this valut? It is nonsens, some children's rymhe", the chelaxian assures the party. "There must be a hidden passage here, and Silvio will find it!" he announces and joins Zstelian in his search.

Presented with the note, she again shake her head. "I'm sorry, I don't remember my parents ever mentioning anything like this."

Zstelian, as you search the northmost pillar, you realize the snake pattern on it is different than the ones on the other pillar. A closer inspection reveals a hidden switch. When you press it, the stone snakes on the column suddenly start writhing, moving aside to form a coiling archway.

"Good job," Lavinia says, her voice high with excitement.

Through the archway, an octagonal room is supposted by a single large pillar with dozens of deep grooves along its sides. The seven walls of this room each bear fantastically detailed bas-relief carvings of exotic monsters in threatening poses.

Starting at the wall immediately to the west of the enrance and moving clockwise, the carvings depict:
* a tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth
* a looming dragon
* a fish-like creature with three eyes and four tentacles
* a two-headed giant wielding a pair of immense clubs
* a spherical creature with four eyestalks and a bulging central eye over a drooling maw
* A gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes
* and a towering black spider with seven eyes.

Each monster's eyes consist of a glittering red stone.

The ceiling above is only 10 feet high, with the now-familiar eight-pointed star pattern radiating out from the grooved pillar. The arms of this star are black, save for the one pointing south toward the entrance, which is red.

Sekathral notices Kyson trying to hide behind Lavinia and grimaces. "I'm just working off a bit of choler, lad - no need to fret. I don't scrag priests, anyway - bad luck" He pauses. "Well, it's bad luck to scrag most priests" He pauses again, frowning in annoyance. "Damn it! I'm not going to scrag you, anyway. Come out from behind the lady"

He walks over to Dargon. "Mind if I have a look at that note, chief?"

I'd like to make an intelligence check, please, if we still do those...

if successful:

Sekathral reads the letter and rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder whether the statues turn? We want all the ones who're supposed to be looking to sunrise to be facing east and the ones who're supposed to be looking to sunset to face west, by my reckoning. Anyone feel like giving us a hand?"

Re: Intelligence check, I'd rather see what you guys can figure out as players first. If you run into a roadblock, I could give a hint on a successful INT check.

I see no reason Sekathral can't have that idea without the check. However, the carvings aren't statues, but are bas-reliefs -- basically carved onto the wall, with the details projecting slightly from the wall.

You may want to be careful with the metagaming, since it's not actually an umber hulk. I suppose I can make knowledge checks for each of you to see if you know what the critters are. I may also see if I can find some artwork for them -- you'd think this would've been something they'd have given an illustration for.

Zstelian is able to recognize two of the carvings -- the two-headed giant is an ettin, while the gorilla-like beast is actually a gray render. Unfortunately, no one else is able to recognize any of the creatures.

You weren't even close. : ) Post is now edited with images linked. Yes, some of them give away what the critters actually are and I assume you can metagame the rest, but in character you only know the dragon, spider and two giants that Zstelian recognized.

Sekathral looks despondently at the bas-reliefs, unable to match any of them to the names on the notes. "One of them looks like something that swims, but thank Calistria, I've never seen one. Anybody know what any of those names mean? Kyson?"

Dargon sits down in the middle of the floor, closes his eyes and begins to meditate. Shortly after he starts to mumble some thoughts in his native dwarven tongue.

The tentacled monster has one eye.Dragon's have two eyesThe fish-like creature has three eyesA two-headed giant? Two heads means four eyes...four eyestalks and a central eye... Four eyestalks plus one central eye makes five eyes.That strange beast Zstelian thinks to be an umber hawk, has six eyes. A big black spider with...

Dargon opens his eyes and begins to stand up while asking, "That spider got seven eyes?"

Does it look as if the glittering red stones would fit into the deep grooves along the single large pillar and is there any pattern to those grooves that we can spot?

Looking closely, it does not appear the gems could fit in the grooves; however, Zstelian realizes it appears that it can actually be rotated in both directions. It doesn't turn smoothly, but seems to "click" into a socket eight times as it rotates in the course of a single revolution. As it rotates, the eight-pointed star in the ceiling rotates as well, the red arm pointing to a new wall with each click.

Perception 15:

"What the hell?" Lavinia asks quietly as she sees the star moving.

"Well, you seem to have found something," Lavinia asks, "but what?"

Perception checks (note that these are NOT for the spoiler above, but for rolls I made to find that the column rotates):

"Does the note necessarily have anything to do with this chamber?" Wonders Sekathral. "Maybe the number of eyes has to total eight, since there's an eight pointed star on the floor. What happens if we turn it to the spider, then to the one eyed beast?"

He moves over to the pillar and turns it to face the specified creatures in turn, then steps back to see what happens...